very important moss

I'm on Skype listening to some awesome faux-techno music spliced with lively and hip Cingular (the new AT&T) advertisements. And now I'm talking to a middle-aged woman with a Southern accent about canceling my account. And now I'm having my account transferred to a great friend with a 919 area code who is being called at this moment (7:30 am US Eastern Time) to be asked if all this is okay with her. This is just one example of the domestic hassles one finds oneself flustered with while in foreign lands. They eventually get resolved, or else you just pay more money. But i refuse to travel down that road. Better to have your cell phone company phone your friends at 7:30 am and charge them $18.

My first real day in Kyoto, spent on bicycle. I biked from the center all the way up northeast to visit Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion Temple) for the second time (first time was way back when), mainly because i was there before only at night and was curious to see how more sunlight might enhance the landscape -- there lies a temple and a pavilion, which is called silver yet is composed of ancient drab wood, both nestled in a garden with zen sand paintings, craning twisted pine trees, carp-filled murky ponds -- all covered in a sea of radiant moss. I didn't catch why, but moss is special on these temple grounds. There even sits a stand displaying at least 20 types of moss, and six of them are denoted in English with the sign "Very Important Moss: Like VIP." As soon as i got to the hill path of shops that climbs to the temple grounds, i got myself a sakura-flavored (cherry blossom) ice cream cone. Upon leaving, i already had in my hand some akashiso sembe (rice cracker with red shiso) on a stick, and thus began my day of gorging on Kyoto junk food.
I biked down tetsugaku no michi (the philosopher's path), which i had walked my last time, and found that i failed to achieve the same degree of inspiration while speeding down on a vehicle. Still pretty though. I proceeded down to Nanzenji (South Zen Temple), which features an enormous temple with one of the three largest gates in Japan, and a really cool old guy who was drawing a meticulously detailed picture of an aqueduct nearby surrounded by trees and stones. Unfortunately, an expensive but extraordinary tofu restaurant called Okutan that i dined in last time was closed. It did save me nearly 30 bucks.
I am typing all this on the morning after said events happened. I'll write a more detailed description later.